Devices for holding beverage cups have become popular in recent decades and can be found mounted in cars, on golf carts, and on furniture. Many cup holder designs have been implemented.
As an example, a self-leveling cup holder has been proposed, which has a rigid structure for receiving a beverage container and which clamps to a golf cart handle. The cup holder uses a mechanical swivel structure to maintain the beverage in a nominally level state when the golf cart handle is moved. For further details, refer to U.S. Pat. No. 3,269,683 to Shinaver.
A self-leveling cup holder that fastens to a rolling luggage case would be useful. Although a cup holder like that disclosed by Shinaver may be well adapted to use on a golf cart, it is ill suited to use on a rolling luggage where it would need to be readily removable from the handle (since the handles on rolling luggage tend to be retractable), yet provide secure support when installed. A cup holder than can be easily attached and removed from the handle of a piece of wheeled luggage has been proposed. Although one embodiment discloses a pivot means, it does not appear to be self-leveling. For further details, refer to U.S. Pat. No. 6,390,431 to Ott.
A cup holder has been proposed that is self-leveling via a mechanical pivot and can be affixed to wheeled luggage. For further details, refer to U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0037825 by Dayton et al. The various embodiments of the Dayton et al. cup holder are either integrated into the collapsible handle or into the frame of the luggage. Such integration would require substantial structural accommodations (drilling of holes, assembly concurrent with manufacture of the luggage, etc.) and does not appear to be suitable for retrofitting to existing luggage without substantial effort.
In the context of modern travel and business, what is needed is a self-leveling cup holder that can be removably affixed to a piece of wheeled luggage in a way that both the fixing and the removal can be accomplished quickly and easily and can be easily stored when not in use. This will avoid any need for substantial modification of existing luggage designs and will avoid the hassle and time expense of installation and removal that are non trivial.